


Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

by GalaxyBrownies



Series: The Story of UNDERTALE [3]
Category: Undertale
Genre: Child Death, These kiddos gonna die, blind patience, continuation of the story of undertale, time skip, undertale souls - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-03-21 19:05:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13747353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyBrownies/pseuds/GalaxyBrownies
Summary: The story of the fallen children. Please read And Everything Fell Apart and Sweater Siblings before this book!





	1. Patience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first SOUL falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a time skip between the last book and this one, of around a year. Please comment if you like!
> 
>  
> 
> My Tumblr

It’s dark. Very, very dark. A small girl is stuck, at the bottom of a deep pit, blind. Waiting for someone, anyone to appear and help her. If she could see, she would notice the golden blooms that surround her, cushioning her fall. But she doesn’t see them.

Patty Manson is alone, but not for long.

“Help!” She calls out, and luckily, she gets the attention of a kind woman living in the area. Patty sits there helpless as she hears the echo of footsteps slowly approaching, then the rustle of fabric as the footsteps turn into a run.

“Oh, dear!” The woman says, and Patty wishes she could see. Then she would be able to see what this woman looks like, see who her savior was. “Are you alright, young one?” Patty nods, holding out her hands to try and find her toy knife, something she’d had for many years.

“Can you help me? I don’t know where I am!” She exclaims, nearing tears now. Her hand bumps the handle of her knife, and she picks it up, brandishing it like it was a weapon. The lady draws nearer, and Patty shakes like a leaf. When she is close, and Patty braces herself for the worst, the woman simply takes her hand and pulls her to her feet. The woman is… furry? Weird. Maybe she was wearing gloves. Patty’s grip on her knife loosens, if only a little.

“It is okay, child. I am Toriel, guardian of the Ruins. You are the first human to fall in three years,” she tells Patty, and Patty thinks she can detect a hint of sadness in the woman’s voice, but she isn’t sure. “If you wouldn’t mind me asking, what is your name?”

“Patty,” she responds. She hopes the woman won’t abandon her when she finds out that Patty is blind. She wonders if her brother is looking for her. “Where am I?”

“You are in the Underground, my child.” She then pauses, as if observing something. “Are you… are you able to see?” Patty vehemently shakes her head, and she can hear Toriel’s gasp of surprise. “Come with me, then! The Ruins can be very dangerous, and even more so if you are unable to see!” Patty sticks close to the woman’s side as she begins to move through the cold, damp caverns.

“Do you have any kids?” Patty asks, if somewhat bluntly. “You seem like a mommy.” A seven year old’s brain is not very good at asking such things gently.

“Not anymore,” Toriel sighs, breath hitching slightly. Patty hopes she didn’t make the woman cry. She seemed friendly.

“Were they nice?” 

“Most of the time,” Toriel laughs, and now Patty _knows_ she’s crying, she can hear the tears in the lady’s throat. “I am afraid that you are not quite as safe down here as they were,” she admits.

“They were a human?” Patty asks, putting the pieces together. It made sense now. The woman had seemed so sad when telling her how long it had been.

“Yes, she was. She fell around three years ago. I only _lost_ her,” she says ‘lost’ like it’s a curse, spitting it out like poison, “a year ago.”

“Only a year?!” The small human exclaims. She was surprised that the lady was not more torn apart, talking about them. 

“Both her _and_ my son are gone, actually.” The sentence hangs in midair, suspended in the silence following it. The lady sniffs, but then immediately changes her tone. “But that is no matter for a child such as yourself! I will lead you back to my home!” Patty nods, if only to stop her from crying, and continues on, plastic knife tucked into her belt.

After a while of walking, the woman’s bubbly voice explaining your surroundings as you walk, she finally stops the child in a room that smells fresher than the others.

“This is my home,” Toriel explains, leading you to the front door. “I suppose that you will be living here for a while!” Is this the end of the Underground? It seemed so small!

“Is this all that there is down here? How do I get back home?” Patty starts to become distressed, breath quickening at the thought of never being with her family again. 

They _always_ knew what to do, knew how to help her with her impairment. Knew what to say to the people who said things like, ‘Oh, it’s such a shame. She used to make such beautiful drawings’ or ‘Are you sure you don’t need hired help? A blind child must be very hard on your family’ or even ‘I’m sorry for your loss’, as if Patty was completely gone because her accident took her vision. Her parents always knew exactly what to say when others said things like that.

Maybe this woman would know what to say, also?

“I’m… I’m sorry, Patty,” the woman says, and you think she’s choking back a sob. “It is impossible for you to return to the Surface.” Patty feels like she’s frozen in place, blood drained from her face. Never? But, she had only fallen on accident, her brother would be looking for her any time now! Her parents had _warned_ her not to play on the Mountain! But she just _had_ to know where her brother played with his friends, didn’t she?

So when she accidentally wandered into a cave, still searching for her brother’s hidden spot, and walked aaaall the way to back…

When she tripped on a tree root that was snaking through the caverns…

When she fell, down, down, down into the Underground…

She was sentenced to stay forever.

Now Patty was crying. Really, truly crying. The woman kneels down and places a comforting arm around her, and Patty is left with one question, silly as it may be.

“Why are you… furry?” She asks in between sobs, and Toriel is taken aback.

“Oh! I suppose you wouldn’t know, if you are unable to see! How silly of me.” Toriel seems a little angry with herself. “Everyone in the Underground is a monster,” she says. “I am simply one with fur!”

“M-monster?!” 

“Yes? What is wrong with that?”

“L-like the kind in scary movies, and stuff?”

“You have monsters in scary movies? How ridiculous!” She says, and Patty relaxes a little. “We are not _nearly_ so terrifying. Well, aside from King Asgore. Do not attempt to leave my house without me, I beg you. He _will_ attempt to kill you,” she warns.

“K-kill me? Why?!” There was human down here before, right? She had been allowed to live with this woman! Toriel hesitates, and does not answer that question.

“I am sure you are hungry, my child. Come, I have food,” she says, and despite wanting to know the answer to your question, she follows, holding Toriel’s hand to guide her. Patty was much too hungry to refuse.

The food is truly amazing. Patty isn’t sure what some of it is, but it all tastes wonderful.

After the meal is finished, Patty notices something strange, and amazing. She can see something. It’s like a strange gray afterimage in her blinded vision, and it’s slowly becoming clearer. She begins to see colors, shapes, forms, light.

“What the heck?!” Patty shouts, as her vision continues to return. “Why is this happening?!” She hasn’t _seen_ since she was four years old, in that fateful car accident. She could hardly remember what is was like.

“What is wrong, my child?” Toriel asks, and Patty swivels her head around to look at her, nearly jumping at what she sees.

Toriel has been a goat. This. Whole. Time.

“You’re a goat!” She screams, pointing at Toriel.

“Oh! I see the food healed your vision! Wonderful!” She says, as if it is an everyday occurrence that the blind regain their sight. She completely ignores Patty’s somewhat rude comment, focusing on her new vision.

“What do you mean? Food can’t do that!”

“Monster food can! We have magic,” she says, holding a hand out to show her a small plume of flame. Patty stares at it in wonder. She hasn’t seen anything in _so long_. It’s kind of hard to process now. Seeing things gives her a headache. Everything is so much _brighter_ than she remembered.

“I can… I can see,” Patty says in amazement, looking down at her hands for the first time in three years. It’s been a while since she’s even seen her own reflection. She probably looks so much different than she remembers. At least her hands are the same, dark, smooth skin with nearly no wrinkles. Patty’s nails are bitten down to the base. 

It’s incredibly hard to believe that she can see. She feels like she might wake up at any moment, back with her family. She isn’t sure if it would be better or worse to wake up, though. On one hand, she would be back with her family. On the other, though, she would be blind again. It sort of scares her that she isn’t sure which one she would choose.

“Do you have a mirror?” She asks desperately, and Toriel smiles, leading her down a hallway.

“This way, dear,” Toriel says, and Patty still can’t get over the fact that she is a goat. A freaking. Goat. The kind that eats tin cans. A goat. Goat.

This day was one heck of a rollercoaster.

Toriel leads her to the end of the hallway, stopping before the mirror. Patty gently placed a hand on it, peering at her reflection. Her hair was braided, courtesy of her mother, in a singular braid over her shoulder. The end was tied with a red bow. It was nice to finally see the bow, she had had it since the accident, as a present, but had never gotten to look at it. Her eyes were just as she remembered them- honey brown. Her dark brown skin was accentuated with freckles, even more than she had had when she was four.

She was here.

 

It was still her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr


	2. First SOUL Acquired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr

Patty stays with Toriel for a month, give or take. In that time, she hunts for snails and bugs alike, enjoys pie, and otherwise greatly enjoys her newfound vision. It’s incredible how she could just _walk around_ without needing a guide or needing to feel around the room. Even if she never made it to the Surface, she could be somewhat happy down here. She at least had decided to never leave the Ruins. She didn’t want to break the lady’s heart if she got killed.

Toriel has taught her many things, things she never would have learned on the Surface. She taught the human things about monster history, about the different kinds of monsters she may encounter. Toriel taught her the value of mercy. She didn’t want Patty to hurt anyone, even if they tried to hurt her.

One day, on the way to a store, Patty is attacked by a Froggit. The toad hops in front of her, shooting all manners of flies at her light blue SOUL, which it extracted upon the start of combat.

“Agh!” She shouts, leaping to the side as a wing brushes the small heart that was her being. Getting hurt there was _so painful_ , more pain than she had experienced in her _life_. Even compared to something like The Accident, it was too much.

At her screech of pain, Patty can see Toriel turn to see the poor child hopping out of reach of the fly-shaped bullets, but before she can interfere, Patty swings her plastic knife at the monster.

It hits the frog with a wet _thwack_ , and somehow seems to cause a lot of damage. Patty doesn’t want to kill the frog, just deter it. Before she can get another hit in, trying to push it away from her, Toriel steps in, giving the Froggit a scolding look as it frantically hops away from her gaze.

Toriel takes a couple deep breaths before turning towards Patty with her hands on her hips, the same scolding look on her furry face.

“Child, I understand the need to defend yourself, but you nearly killed someone! You should always _talk_ to your enemies instead of fighting,” She admonishes gently, and Patty nods down at her feet. She hadn’t even tried to resolve things peacefully.

Patty looks down at the weapon in her hands. It was just a toy, right? It couldn’t _kill_ something. And yet...

Patty glances down one more time at her beloved toy knife. She obviously couldn’t be trusted with it. She takes a shuddering breath, and walks over to the corner of the room, placing the toy on the ground. There. Now she couldn’t hurt anyone.  
She looks up to Toriel for reassurance, and is met with a pleased hum.

“Very good, my child!” She exclaims, holding out a paw for Patty to hold. Patty smiles. She liked making the lonely goat woman happy, even if she knew she could never replace Toriel’s lost children.  
They eat well that night. 

____

 

“Who is the King to you, anyway?” Patty asks a week later, when Toriel has complained about his cruelty for the thousandth time. She understands that Toriel is trying to keep her here, but it seemed a little more personal than that.

Toriel hesitates, seemingly unwilling to divulge that information. Patty sits on her lap, in that big armchair, and looks up at her with the biggest eyes she could manage. Maybe if she’s cute enough, she can weedle the information out of the lady.

Toriel sighs and relents.

“He was my... husband,” She grumbles.

“Really? So what’d he do?” Patty realizes that that is probably a stupid question. Toriel was here, protecting her, while Asgore wanted to kill her. That divide should tell her enough.

“When I _lost_ them,” Toriel says carefully, and she looks like she may cry, but continues, “he... he couldn’t handle it. Well, I suppose that I could not either, but he got very angry, instead of simply mourning, like I did. He waged war on humanity. And I left.” She states. Tears are glimmering at the corners of her eyes now, and Patty curls closer into her chest to comfort her. She doesn’t know how Toriel can manage to tell her all this. This had all happened a _year_ ago, and she was telling the story like it had been decades.

Patty has many more questions, but feels that it may not be best to press Toriel any further. She curls up into her lap by the fire, quietly dozing off as Toriel reads quietly.

____

 

“What’s your problem?” Patty backs away from a Loox as they approach her. She nervously eyed the ground behind her. This was one of those rooms where the ground cracked and broke under your feet. She never liked this room. It made her feel weird. And it had a stupid puzzle. You had to fall over and over again to find some stupid switch.

“Look, I jus’ wanna see your SOUL! I’ve never seen a human SOUL before!” He doesn’t seem particularly malicious, but Patty feels uneasy anyway.

“L-look, I don’t really wanna-” Patty begins, but is cut off when her foot hits the cracked tile. It makes an exaggerated crunching noise and Patty can feel the floor give a little. She quickly moves to the side, breathing a sigh of relief. She wishes she could leave the room altogether, but Toriel had said to wait here, and Patty was nothing if not patient.

“Jus’ lemme see!” The Loox says, and lunges at Patty. Patty jumps away, but immediately freezes when she realizes her error. She’s on the _cracked ground_. In that split second, Patty attempts to hop away again, but her foot breaks through the thin crust and sends her toppling down.

Patty screams the whole way down. Falling from places was worse when you had vision, she could actually see the ground leaving her feet.

Patty’s scream is cut off as she slams into the floor, which in itself wouldn’t actually be too bad if she hadn’t hit her head. Her head bounces off the floor and knocks her into a semi-unconscious state, body immediately relaxing on the cold floor. She wonders if Toriel will be mad at her.

Something approaches. It seems like there are multiple people. Patty can make out small snatches of conversation.

“Don’t know if... humans don’t turn to... she dead?” It’s that Loox. He brought friends. The hum of their conversation carries on while Patty is in her half-unconscious state, and she tries not to panic.

Something grabs her arm, picking her up. Were they taking her to Lady Toriel? They seemed to be heading towards her house... Her ribbon! As she’s pulled away, she can see her ribbon lying on the floor of the pit. She’s too out of it to grab it, and can do nothing as she is forced to abandon the scarlet ribbon. Maybe when they brought her to Toriel, she could help her get it back.

But Toriel was in the opposite direction, watering flowers at the spot where Patty fell. They would be taking her _there_ if they wanted to bring her to Toriel, wouldn’t they?

Patty wakes up slightly, but are still too out of it to move. She thinks they’re almost to her house. She’s actually kind of scared. Why are they bringing her here?

They bring her into the house. And down the stairs.

 _No, no, no!_ Where was Toriel? They were bringing her out of the Ruins! No, no! The King would kill her, wouldn’t he? Maybe that was why they were bringing her. She didn’t know _why_ they needed her SOUL, but she knew that they wanted it.

She bounces in the monster’s arms as they take her down the stairs. She thinks that they are muttering worriedly to each other, but in her current state cannot quite make them out. She feels something warm and wet in her hair. Was she bleeding?

They travel down a long hallway. A growing chill bites into Patty’s skin, causing goosebumps to appear. Were they going somewhere cold? Patty was wearing a short sleeved dress. Although, perhaps the monsters didn’t care, they _were_ trying to kill her, after all.

She’s more awake now, can move her legs. She struggles to escape the Loox’s grip, but his friends help him pin her in place. At least Patty knew that she could run if she had to.

They reach a set of large purple doors, forbidding objects. The cold is almost unbearable now. She really wished she had a jacket. Even if she was due to die soon, she would rather die warm and semi-comfortable than by freezing to death.  
They push open the doors.

And drop her into the snow.

The door closes with a slam, and Patty can barely make out the sound of little feet scampering away. If Patty didn’t know that she wasn’t allowed to cuss due to her age, she’d be cussing right now. 

So cold! She scrambles up as best she can in her still muddled state, and stumbles forward a couple steps. She’d been abandoned. Her breathing quickens. They had thrown her out here to die. She whirls around, trying desperately to open the large doors. They don’t budge. She hits them uselessly for a few minutes, before giving in to her fate. Maybe she could wait in this general area, maybe Toriel would come looking.

She’s so cold.

“ **h u m a n .** ” A chilling voice calls out as she stares at the locked door. Patty whirls around, jumping back and screaming when she is suddenly face-to-face with a skeleton. A. Skeleton. How the hell was he even alive?  
She turns to run, but is stopped with a cold vice grip somewhere inside their chest. She shivers, turning to meet the skeleton’s eyes again.

“Wh-what do you want from me?” She asks. Jeez, this guy looks like a _kid_. Older than her, yes, but a kid. He’s still terrifying.

The skeleton sighs, as if resigned, and slams an attack into her.

“Wh-what?! Stop!” Patty exclaims, struggling to escape his hold. He hadn’t even introduced himself, and now he was trying to kill her. The skeleton sends a few more attacks towards her, and she notices that they’re bone-shaped. Cool.  
He sends an arc of bones through the air, and two of them slam into her head, knocking her to the ground. It’s not enough to _kill_ her, no, but it _is_ enough to knock her out. Again. Patty was starting to get tired of unconsciousness.

When she wakes up, she’s in a completely different place. The walls are gray, and in a brick pattern. It’s eerily quiet, just as before. And she’s being carried. Again. But she needed to get back to the door, she needed to wait for Toriel!

The person holding her (she looks up, it’s that damn skeleton again) is holding her very tightly, muttering something under his breath.

“E-excuse me?” She squeaks, and the skeleton jumps. He looks down at her, acknowledging her presence before looking back up and continuing to walk down the hallway. “Who are you?”

“sans,” he says stiffly. He sighs, looks at the floor, then back at Patty. “who’re you?” 

“Patty.”

The silence is deafening as he reaches the end of this hallway and turns the corner into a brilliant golden hall. He places her on the ground and walks forward a couple paces before turning to face her again.

“look, kid. i know this is gonna be kinda weird, but this is my job, okay?” This is the most Sans has ever said to Patty. She nods hesitantly. He takes a breath, and fixes her with a stare. “i gotta judge you now.”

The room takes on a completely different aura. It settles into Patty’s skin, makes her want to scream.

“i don’t know very much about you, honestly. but from what i’ve seen, you like to play the pacifist. you would have attacked me if you were not. you also seem to be rather _patient_. heh. patient patty.” He laughs at his own joke, but Patty stays silent. “not the joking type? alright. honestly, i’m really sorry that i have to bring you to the king. it’s law.” He scratches the back of his head. “i haven’t done a lot of judgin’ before, there’s only been one human before you... i’ll probably get better with time. hopefully.” And with that, he walks back over to Patty and helps her to her feet, once again silent. At least he isn’t carrying her again. He escorts her out of the hall, towards a foreboding door in another gray wall.

“this is where i leave you,” He says, and Patty is surprised to hear reluctance in his voice. “i’m... i’m sorry, kid.” He stands there for a second, seemingly memorizing her face, before turning and leaving the small hall connecting the golden one to whatever this room was. Patty was alone.

She could run.

She _could_ run, but she didn’t want to. There was no escaping this. _Someone_ would bring her back, she couldn’t just _disappear_. She couldn’t actually run, not really. She would always be caught.

She braces herself, and enters the room.

 

She never exits.

 

**1st SOUL Acquired: Patience**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr


	3. Oh Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next SOUL falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment if you like!
> 
>  
> 
> My Tumblr

A boy wakes up at the bottom of a pit, having fallen in while searching the mountain for a missing family member. His bandana tied tight around his mouth, hand clutching a pink boxing glove, he struggles to his feet and squints in the darkness.

He considers calling out for help, but honestly, there was probably evil things down here. He wasn’t scared, but it was always best to be precautious. He leaves the room, almost immediately encountering a white frog.

“What the hell?” He shouts, as he feels a tugging sensation at his chest, and the frog begins to shoot some kind of (flies?) flies at a small orange heart that is now floating in midair. He tries to dodge the flies, but some hit the glowing shape anyway.

He pulls back his fist and punches the frog as hard as he can.

The frog stops, stunned. Then he shudders, whines, and dissolves into a fine, white dust.

**Branson’s LV Increased.**

Branson looks down at the dusty glove, shaking slightly. It had only been a _frog_ , right? So why did he feel like he’d committed a grave sin? Why did he feel like he could never go back, like he’d crossed some line?

He marches through the Ruins, encountering many enemies. Weird butterfly bug things, giant crybaby eyeballs, more of those _frogs_ , even vegetables that wanted him to _eat_ them.

None escape a fight with him alive.

He doesn’t hunt them down, no, but he kills just the same. His LV slowly ticks up, marking notches on a belt that can never be loosened. He began to grow more numb to this, to the dust that coated his hands and shirt. Numb to all the death, so that he didn’t even flinch when he had punched the final Loox into dust. 

He was in front of a house, now. Perhaps someone lived here? But if someone lived here, then that meant that they were sentient. And if they were sentient, did that mean that everyone he had killed was sentient too? Despite his numbing, he feels a trace of guilt and slight nausea at the thought, but immediately shakes it off. They were _animals_. They _had to be_. Even the eyeball? Branson had never seen an anthropomorphic eyeball before. But he was just a child, after all. He hadn’t seen everything. And maybe living vegetables existed as well, somewhere? 

Branson ignores the growing pit in his stomach, and knocks on the door. Before anyone can answer, he smacks and shakes his gloves and shirt to remove the clinging dust. He has a feeling that the dust is like a corpse, and whoever lives here probably won’t like to see it.

He has most of the dust off when whoever lives here opens the door. He hopes it’s a human, but he knows it’s probably too much to wish for. Where was he, anyway?

It’s not a human.

“What the hell?!” He shrieks for the second time today, stumbling back with a gloved hand over his chest. “What _are_ you?!” The anthropomorphic goat woman, now standing in front of him, looks slightly put off.

“Now, now. No need to be rude,” she chastises. She looks Branson over carefully, before smiling. “I am Toriel, Caretaker of the Ruins. I am sorry that I did not find you on my morning trek to the spot where humans fall, I must have missed you.” She frowns. “You must have been so frightened.” At this, Branson puffs his chest out indignantly.

“I’m never frightened! Not even now!” He means it, too. This lady was sentient, but if she tried to hurt him, he’d… he’d try his best to fight her off. In truth, at the realization that he had probably killed around ten or so sentient beings, he was _really_ starting to feel nauseous. If they had just been frogs, or abnormally large bugs, or even weird eyeball things, he could have handled the guilt, but…

Toriel places a paw over her mouth, stifling a giggle. Branson smiles, but immediately twists it into a scowl when he realizes what he was doing. He was supposed to be looking for someone. Maybe this is where they fell?

“If you do not mind my asking, little one, how did you fall down here?”

“I’m lookin’ for my sister.”

Toriel’s face falls slightly, but twitches as she asks, “What did- _does_ she look like?” Branson frowns slightly at the use of past tense, did this lady know something?

“Brown skin, like mine. Brown hair. Always wears this red ribbon in her hair. Been blind since she was four,” Branson supplies choppily. Now Toriel is _really_ frowning. Almost looks close to tears, actually.

“Y-yes, actually. She fell down here around three months ago… but I am afraid…” She pauses, looking conflicted. Branson steps forward, trying to prompt a response from her. “I am afraid that she’s...that she’s _dead_ ,” she whispers. Branson’s blood chills, and sharp shiver running down his back. 

“ _Dead_?” He repeats. He can feel his heart in his throat. She _couldn’t_ be dead. She _needed him_. Toriel hesitates, then nods sadly. She then looks strangely at his shirt, and his glove, and Branson flinches in expectation. She doesn’t say anything, and he relaxes.

“How did she… how did it…?”

“A monster carried her outside the Ruins, outside my reach. The King took her SOUL. That is all I know.” Toriel scowls at the ground. So these people were called monsters? He didn’t know if acknowledgment of their sentience made Branson feel worse, or better at knowing that they were just monsters.

“Where’s the exit?” He asks icily. Toriel freezes.

“I can’t let you leave,” she says, and Branson snarls. 

“I’m going out there, whether you like it or not. My sister _died_ out there! She couldn’t even see what got her!” Branson was dangerously close to crying, but holds it in. He tries to push pass Toriel, but she stands steadfast in the doorway.

“Well…” 

“‘Well’ what?!”

“She _could_ see.”

“What?” Branson pauses his attempt to pass the woman, eyes wide.

“She was healed. The food down here contains a special type of magic, healing magic. I was not sure that it would work, but it did.” The knowledge that Patty could see what killed her didn’t _completely_ satisfy Branson, but it helped a little.

“I still want to go out.”

Toriel looks at his clothing again, as if judging him. Maybe his strength? Or maybe she wouldn’t let go out at all, if she thought he was evil…

“You seem strong,” she says, in a small voice that betrays how she _really_ feels about him slaughtering what he had thought were animals. Not like that would make it much better. “You will certainly die,” she warns him. “The King… King Asgore will kill you,” she tells him, and he looks her steadfast in the eyes.

“Not if _I_ can help it,” he declares, and Toriel smiles sadly.

“Then let me pack you some pie, dear, and you may be on your way.”

 

Branson exits the Ruins that night, still shivering under the weight of his sins. And the cold. Probably _just_ the cold, honestly. It’s really freaking snowy here. How did it snow Underground, anyway?

Toriel has informed him of the basics of what it would be like outside the Ruins, before allowing him to leave. He almost felt sad about leaving her, she seemed lonely. 

_Jeez_ , it’s cold. And Patty had just been _dumped_ out here, in just a short-sleeved dress. At least Branson was dressed for the temperature. He shivers again, then marches forward, bandana tucked around his mouth even higher than before. He clenches and unclenches his fist experimentally in the cold air as he walks.

“ **h u m a n .** ” 

Branson whirls around, pulling his fist back, ready to punch. Who was that? He doesn’t see anyone…

“back here, kid,” he feels a tap at his shoulder, and turns again only to fall backwards into the snow. How did living skeletons even exist? They couldn’t. And yet, here one stood, shorter than him, grinning in a slightly baggy hoodie. The skeleton looked to be around his age, fifteen or so. Branson could see a weird striped pendant peeking out from behind his sweater. He looks back up at the skeleton’s face.

His eyes are down at the boy’s shirt, where traces of white dust still reside. He quickly flicks his eyes back up and puts on a cheery exterior, but Branson isn’t fooled.

“i’m sans. sans the skeleton. haven’t seen a human down here in around a month. who’re you?”

“Branson,” he says gruffly, and Sans nods.

“now, i understand you’re new and all, wanna see the sights, but i’ve got a job and stuff,” Sans says, and Branson tenses, ready to run at the slightest notice. The skeleton raises his hand, and Branson runs, sprinting down the long snow path ahead of him. There’s a small bridge ahead, and he smirks. It _would_ be the perfect place for a fence, or a gate, something to block humans off, but it’s wide open.

Branson is nearly at the bridge when an attacks knocks him off his feet, slamming him into the ground. He uses his gloved hand to struggle into a sitting position, unable to stand up fully. It felt like he was being crushed, like gravity had increased on him. What was this?

“sorry, bud,” Sans says from behind Branson, and Branson screams out. Sans scoops Branson up onto his shoulder, already walking away from the path. Damn, this kid was strong.

They pass a clearing with an odd looking booth, and enter another containing a lone box. Before Branson can protest, Sans tugs Branson’s glove off of him and chucks it into the box.

“Hey!” Branson protests as his prized possession is taken away from him.

“you won’t need that anymore. besides,” Sans says, voice growing darker, “ **i t ‘ s b e e n  
w e l l u s e d a n y w a y , h a s n ‘ t i t ?** ” Branson swallows heavily, and Sans stops.

“Wh-what’re you doing?” Branson asks nervously, but his surroundings begin to morph.

The trees around him bend slowly, as does the path, everything beginning to lean towards a singular point- Sans. Then, in an instant, there’s a snapping noise, and Sans and Branson appear in a golden hallway.

Sans sighs, as if having done this before, and places Branson down, walking a couple paces forward. 

“gotta judge you now,” he says, and Branson has a feeling that his sister has had to sit through this as well. “kid, to be honest, i don’t like you. you’ve obviously killed before,” he gestures towards Branson’s clothing, and the human winces. “charging out here, like you don’t care what happens to you… almost as if… you were looking for someone?” He looks thoughtful for a second. “it’s kinda _brave_ of ya, honestly. alright, be honest with me. the girl before you… is that your sister?” Branson nods hesitantly. “you’ve got a family resemblance. can’t say you’re like her any other way, though,” he smirks. “but i suppose that i didn’t know her that well, anyway.” Sans lets out a breath, then walks back to Branson and picks him up once again.

“I can walk, y’know!” 

“i know. but unlike your sister, I have a feeling that you _will_ walk. right in the opposite direction.” Sans looks Branson in the eye. “that right?” Branson nods in admission.

Sans carries Branson through the hallway, to another smaller hall, and finally to a foreboding doorway.

“this is where the sans train departs,” he says. “gonna stay here, though. gotta make sure you won’t bran _run_ away.” He smiles, but his eye sockets are dark, and Branson can tell that it is not a happy grin.

He turns towards the door, fists clenched. This seemed like a castle. And if this was a castle, then behind this door was the King, right? Whoever was in here was the one that killed his sister.

Branson sets his jaw, and marches into the room, teeth and ambitions bared.

 

He puts up more of a fight than his sister, but it is not enough.

 

**2nd SOUL Acquired: Bravery**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr


	4. A Purposeful Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third SOUL falls. She doesn’t get attached easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment if you like! 
> 
>  
> 
> My Tumblr

The next human does not even wake up in the same room that she falls into. She cracks open sore eyes in what appears to be a child’s bedroom, bare as it is. 

Briefly panicking, the teenage girl flings herself out of a comfortable bed and onto the floor, searching desperately for her ballet equipment. She knew that she had been wearing it when she climbed the mountain, where was it now?

The girl briefly curses herself for even waking up. She hadn’t thrown herself down here just to wake up again. She had _meant_ to bury her beloved ballet tutu and shoes down here with her, but now she was alive and they were nowhere to be found.

She cracks open the door at the door of the bed, thanking her lucky stars that it wasn’t locked, and peeks out into a warm yellow hallway. The faded wallpaper on the walls is gently peeling off in places, but this house seems very… quaint. Nice.

The halls are dark, colored walls lit only by a far light from another room. Who lived here? Could they help her, at least to the point where she could attempt this whole suicide thing all over again?

After all, Ingrid was a girl of integrity, and it wouldn’t do for her to betray all of her efforts now that she had survived the first attempt. She would simply have to try again. It hadn’t been so bad the first time, anyway.

She peeks around a corner leading to the lit room, and finds a small dining area, brightened by a lit fireplace and several candles. She frowns. Ingrid could clearly see lightbulbs screwed into their sockets, and she knew the power was working (there was a lamp in the bedroom she had woken up in), so why was the room lit by flame?

Ingrid is distracted from her thoughts when she hears a series of footsteps clacking on tile. Strange. It sounded almost like a dog’s feet, soft pads cushioning the foot, but claws clicking on the tile anyway. She wondered if whoever lived here owned a dog, or some other animal.

What she saw before she ducked her head back into the room she was standing in was not a dog.

But goats didn’t have paws??????

Why did the apparent goat have paws for her (his? Their???) hands and feet? By all means, it _should_ be hooves. And if they _were_ paws, how was she (again, pronouns unclear) holding a cup, unless the paws had opposable thumbs? And why was the goat wearing reading glasses? All magnificent questions, but missing the real point- how was a goat walking on two legs like a human?

Ingrid leans against the wall connecting the two rooms for a second, breathing heavily and praying to God that the goat lady (man, genderless adult, whatever) hadn’t seen her. That would absolutely positively not do.

But god _damn_ Ingrid’s curiosity.

She was itching to take another look, but barely manages to hold herself back. She was praising herself when suddenly-

“I know you are there, young one. It is alright, you can come out.”

Ingrid, in her shock, slips in her socked feet and face plants on the ground. 

“Owww…” She grumbles, rubbing her nose. That hurt. She pushes herself up into a sitting position, still nursing the wounded nose, considering her options. She _could_ go out into the room with the fireplace, but there was a goat person in there and Ingrid didn’t know if that was safe. Then again, the goat person already knew she was there, so perhaps it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Ingrid sighs, running hands through her platinum blonde hair. She would have to go into the room. Otherwise, she would look rude, and that was the last thing she wanted as a first impression, especially if the thing in there was murderous.

Ingrid struggles to her feet (she felt pretty weak, unfortunately. She had spent so much time building her muscles up in ballet) and pads silently into the room, tensed up in apprehension.

“Ah, you are awake! How are you feeling?” The goat woman says, and Ingrid looks at the floor nervously, tapping her toes together.

“I’m… ok,” Ingrid says, despite the fact that she _really_ wishes she wasn’t. She still wanted to die.

“Wonderful! I am Toriel, Caretaker of the Ruins! I have made pie for you, my child,” she says, and Ingrid’s face immediately freezes.

“I am _not_ a child,” she says. She was seventeen years old, she could hardly be considered one anymore. How many children tried to kill themselves?

“Oh, apologies, young one,” Toriel says, and Ingrid supposes that ‘young one’ is better than ‘my child’. “May I ask, what led you to fall down here?”

Ingrid stiffens. “Prefer not to answer,” she says simply, and Toriel meets her eyes with an understanding gaze. Ingrid doesn’t like that look.

Ingrid and the lady stand there for just a moment, awkwardly.

“S-so! How do I get outta here?” Ingrid knew that she was Underground, and there were… beasts? Monsters? Creatures? She wasn’t sure what they were called. Toriel’s face crumples.

“There is a Barrier,” she says, shaking her head slowly. “You may never leave.” Fair enough, but that hadn’t been really what Ingrid had meant. What would the point be in leaving when she wanted to die anyways? 

“Thanks, but that wasn’t really what I meant.”

“O-oh! You can’t leave the Ruins, dear! The King, King Asgore, will kill you!” Toriel looks at Ingrid hopefully. She looked set in her ways, sure that Ingrid would not attempt to leave her.

Ingrid laughs a little. Toriel really had _no idea_ that Ingrid wanted to die. Ingrid briefly considered sneaking out when the lady was sleeping or something, but decided against it. That would be wrong, to abandon this lady when she so obviously trusted Ingrid to stay.

What _were_ the Ruins exactly, anyway? Ingrid hadn’t seen them when Toriel brought her here. Ingrid supposes that it doesn’t really matter, if she’ll be leaving anyway.

“I- I need to leave,” Ingrid says, and Toriel’s face twists into something incredibly and awfully sad.

“You _will_ die,” she whispers, and Ingrid nods.

“I know.”

Toriel lets out a long, sad sigh. “Allow me to retrieve your equipment, at least. And pack you a slice of pie.” Ingrid nods. She could allow this poor goat lady to do that much.

 

 

The air is cold when she exits the Ruins. It’s also dark, darker than it would normally be in an Underground cavern. Made sense, it _was_ nighttime. Ingrid can see her breath as she adjusts her tutu, flexing her feet in her old shoes. These were not the clothes for this weather. It would have to do.

It’s very quiet as Ingrid makes her way down a snowy path. She quietly crosses a bridge, where it looks like some kind of construction is taking place. Maybe some kind of gate? The bars look like they’ll be too wide to actually stop anyone…

There isn’t anybody around as Ingrid makes her way through snowy paths. The snow absorbs all sound leaving an almost every atmosphere.

At one point, when Ingrid comes upon an icy river, she contemplates jumping in and just ending it once and for all, but…

According to Toriel they wanted her SOUL, a dark blue heart that Toriel herself had shown her. Only with that could they set everyone free. If Ingrid killed herself like that, it would just be a waste. If Ingrid was going to die, her death would now serve a purpose besides ending her own unhappiness.

Ingrid looks down at her clothes in thought. She had thrown herself down here for a simple reason: her parents didn’t love her. The opposite, really. They were rich socialites, not doing much except funding Ingrid’s ballet habit. Apparently, the only reason they even did _that_ was because it kept Ingrid out of their hair (or her mother’s hair, her father didn’t have any) for a couple hours or days.

Ingrid was an accident, and that would never change.

Ingrid was worthless, and that would never change.

Maybe if she died to the hands (paws? Ingrid knew that Toriel had been married to him, maybe they were similar) of this King Asgore, her SOUL could be worth enough. Enough to justify her existence, at the very least.

After passing through a fairly empty snowy area (except for some abandoned booth-station things) Ingrid enters a silent town. Christmas lights twinkle on doorways and on a large tree in the center of the square. It wasn’t even Christmas, though? 

Ingrid creeps along the sides of houses, avoiding the stares of monsters looking out their windows. When she finally passes a large two story house with a skull flag on the roof, she lets out a breath of relief. She can see the end of the snowy area ahead, and happily runs the last ten feet or so to the exit.

 

It’s an hour into the next area, a wet damp place with waterfalls cascading down the walls, that she sees the first monster since she left the Ruins. She’s honestly been pretty lucky to have avoided them so far, but it seemed the jig was up.

It pops up in front of her face, babbling on about how dirty she was and that she needed to be cleaned. Screeching in surprise, Ingrid instinctively kicks out with a ballet shoe. She kicks it to dust before it can scream.

**Ingrid’s LV Increased.**

The dust floats gently through the air, settling on her tutu. Ingrid stares at the ground in shock. She had just been surprised, it had been so _quiet_ , and the monster had popped up out of nowhere! She couldn’t be blamed!

No.

No, Ingrid _knew_ that she could be blamed. Ingrid wanted to die anyways, so what would it have mattered if it had attacked her? Ingrid leans against a waterfall wall, trying to scrub the dust from her shoes and skirt, when it gives way behind her.

“Aack!” She squeals as she stumbles backwards. Her head cracks hard against the floor, and she sits up, groaning as she rubs it. She seemed to have found a secret room.

She could stay here, think about what she did. Maybe she could avoid being yelled at if she hid in here. Maybe...

No. Ingrid needed to face consequences.

Shaking, Ingrid slowly removes her now dusty tutu, slightly damp from what little water managed to reach it before she fell, and places it on the ground. That would do. She didn’t deserve this, this token of her old life, if that wasn’t who she was anymore. The old Ingrid wasn’t a murderer.

Ingrid sits there, collecting her thoughts.

 

Then Ingrid leaves.

 

Most of the rest of her journey is uneventful, except for when she accidentally stumbles into the water, completely soaking and ruining her ballet slippers. She had taken them off and put them in a secluded bush so no one would find them. 

And now she was in front of a house. It was awfully strange looking, like a large fish had settled down and curled up inside the small cavern. Whoever lived here was sure to be interesting. It wasn’t like Ingrid had anywhere else to be. She was tired.

And besides, even if the person here was hostile, it wasn’t like Ingrid was not prepared to die. In fact, she was kind of tired of this endless trudge. Maybe someone to take her directly to the King would be a _good_ thing. Maybe.

Ingrid knocks on the door, and waits patiently.

She was certainly not expecting a fish lady to open the door.

Wait, would it be messed up for a fish to live inside a fish? Maybe it was best to ignore that.

“Who’sit?” The fish lady asks sleepily, rubbing at her eyes. Man, those eyes were a _piercing_ yellow. It sent chills down Ingrid’s back, but she stands firm. If she would die, all the better.

“H-hi?”

“Are you… are you a human?” The lady asks, squinting through her sleepy vision. Suddenly, her eyes widen. “You are! Man, I’ve only seen one of you in person!” Her face brightens, but she immediately twists it into a scowl. “What are you doing here? Don’t you know who I am?”

“I- um. No?”

The lady bends over, cackling wildly. “I’m Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard! It’s been a while since a human has fallen down here, almost two years! I’m not going to let this opportunity pass by!” She’s still in her pajamas (there little fish on them), but somehow, she still manages to be intimidating. The air heats up around Ingrid and Undyne, and a flash of light consumes Ingrid’s vision. The light dies away to show Undyne holding a brilliant blue spear.

 _Man, that’s cool_ , is the last thought Ingrid has before Undyne smashes it over her head.

 

Ingrid wakes up in a throne room. Somehow, there’s light shining through some windows on the far wall, and flowers consume every inch of the floor in here. A great hulking goat man (she assumes that’s Asgore) stands over her, sympathetic look on his face. Ingrid gets the feeling that he really, _really_ doesn’t want to kill her.

He summons a large, red trident, holding it as if it were last thing he wanted in contact with his skin.

 

Ingrid accepts her death.

 

**3rd SOUL Acquired: Integrity**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr


	5. Moral Ambiguity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next SOUL falls. He isn’t nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment if you liked!
> 
> My Tumblr

Two years later, the next child does not even meet Toriel until he reaches the door leading out of the Ruins. He simply marches through and around everything in his path, refusing to be stopped by anything that tries to hinder him.

As he encounters what appear to be strange animals, he writes down what characteristics he can gather from their appearance in his small notebook, dodging attacks the whole time he writes. Then, when his work is done, he smacks it over the head (or equivalent) with the book and adjusts his glasses as they dissolve to dust.

**Percival’s LOVE Increased.**

**Percival’s LOVE Increased.**

**Percival’s LOVE Increased.**

The Ruins are a lot quieter after he is gone. Even with the years it had to recover since Branson’s scouring of the area, it is still fairly empty when it is cleaned out again.

The air is filled with dust.

“Ch-child? Are you alright?” The goat woman asks as he marches past her, throwing the large doors behind her open roughly. He looks at her, the first person to talk to him this whole time.

“This is the way out, yes?”

“Yes, but-”

“Then I’ll be on my way.”

The lady steps in front of Percival. “You are... you are _covered_ in dust...”

“And? I suppose you are going to tell me to ‘wash up’ before dinner?” Dust was dust, wasn’t it? Sure, it came from those weird animal things, but who _cared_ if he was a bit dirty, anyway? Percival isn’t normally a rude person, but one tends to become a bit disconnected when they’ve killed dozens of animals that were trying to attack them. He _hopes_ they were animals, at least. He wasn’t sure what part of the world giant eyeballs on two legs came from, anyway. They were a good addition to his log book.

“D-do not take this the wrong way, my child,” she says, and Percival flinches. “but how many monsters have you killed?” She says this with a tone of abject horror, a stark contrast to Percival’s look of disinterest.

“Monsters... not animals, then?” He responds, only slightly bothered by this information. If they were monsters, it was all the better, right? From what he’s been told by adults and from stories, monsters are horrible, preying on children while they sleep and killing farm animals. If they were _monsters_ , well, then maybe killing all those creatures wasn’t a _bad_ thing.

Toriel looks aghast, throwing paws over her mouth. “No, not animals!” She gains a strange look on her face. “...human,” she says, fixing Percival with a stare. She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes as if preparing to do something that physically pains her.

“Leave,” she says. Percival hesitates, the first time he’s done so in his time down here, but pushes past her and out of the large doors, which slam behind him.

At least he got out.

It’s quiet, and dark, in this snowy area. The Underground equivalent of night, perhaps? He doesn’t see or hear anything around him, and trudges onwards despite the cold. He wasn’t exactly dressed for the temperature, in only a t-shirt, but he supposed that that was no matter. He would continue on. He would drop when hell froze over.

He chuckles quietly to himself.

He’s Underground, surrounded by monsters, in a snowy area. Perhaps hell really _has_ frozen over. He shivers violently in the crisp air, but shakes his head back and forth to clear his head and keeps marching forward.

To keep his mind off of the temperature, he jots notes down into his notebook as he walks, observing the forest of trees surrounding him. How did they grow without sunlight? How did it snow? He examined his surroundings with a clinical, scientific mind. He didn’t know how to get out of here, but when he did, his discoveries would certainly earn him a one-way ticket to college. If they believed him, that was.

He moves throughout a nearby town, aptly named ‘Snowdin’, marveling at the glittering Christmas lights decorating each surface. Did they even have Christmas down here? The town gives him pages of content for his book. It’s fairly quiet, snow absorbing the ambient sound of the area, and Percival would have thought that the town was perhaps abandoned until he reached a large, wooden, two-story home.

From within the house, he can hear a screeching voice and flinches instinctively.

“SANS I SWEAR TO GOD,” The voice shouts. _Man_ , that was loud. “IF I WERE IN THE ROYAL GUARD I’D-” The voice stops as if cut off, then resumes after presumably listening to this ‘Sans’ person.

“YES, I AM _AWARE_ THAT I AM NOT AN ADULT! HOWEVER! TWO MORE YEARS IS NOT THAT BIG OF A DIFFERENCE, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE _ACTUAL_ ADULT IN THE HOUSE IS AS LAZY AS YOU ARE!”

This was interesting. Percival almost wants to stick around and hear what’s going on, but is forced to scramble around to the side of the house when the front door bangs open and a large skeleton walks out, dressed in a sharpie-marked t-shirt and a red scarf. At this point, seeing a skeleton walking around isn’t as surprising as it would be to a normal person.

Upon closer look, the red scarf that the monster is wearing does not appear to be a singular object, instead looking as if it is two separate scarves lain on top of one another. Percival is very close to the skeleton, and can make out the subtle differences in fabric between the two scarves. One looks hand knit, while the other is more tightly woven, perhaps store bought? All his observations go into his journal.

After the skeleton has apparently spent enough time sulking outside (he had been so angry that Percival could faintly see steam rising from the skeleton’s head upon contact with the cold air), he turns sharply around and marches right back into the house.

Well.

That was interesting.

He creeps back in front of the house, this time walking straight past it and into an area that is gradually growing warmer. _Finally_. He hopes he doesn’t have hypothermia. Just seeing the skeleton’s two scarves made him want to risk his life to grab one.

He moves into the even emptier halls of the next area, thanking his lucky stars that he had been kicked out of Toriel’s area at nighttime, when everyone was either sleeping or just in their homes. He flexes his hands experimentally as they warm, noticing the clumps of white dust that still stick to his knuckles, in between his fingers, under his nails. He regretted killing those monsters, but what use was regret now, when he still had so much farther to travel? He grits his teeth and marches through the area, feet echoing in the rock corridors.

———

Percival looks over the edge of the platform he’s on nervously. It’s a long drop, though it looks like there is a second level below him. The ground is arranged in a strange pattern, almost maze-like, and the lighting isn’t very good. He hopes he doesn’t fall. He hurriedly moves back to the middle of the path to navigate the area.

An electric buzz sounds through the large room, and the floor lights up blue-green beneath his feet. What?! He didn’t know if this would hurt him, but it was better safe than sorry so Percival dodges to the side, just in time to be barely clipped by what appears to be a spear made of a crackling, fizzing energy.

Percival gathers what nerves he has and sprints away from the area, briefly glances down to catch a glimpse of an armored figure occupying the lower level. Who was this? What did they want from him? All he knows is that literally everyone wants him dead.

He runs across a broad area of the path, turning into another lane and continuing to sprint. He looks worriedly at the ground he travels on, as there don’t seem to be any other paths. He’s at a dead end.

He’s trapped.

He can hear clanking footsteps from behind him, as he stands at the edge of the path and looks down worriedly. He see a faint trace of gold at the bottom, almost akin to the sight he saw at the mouth of the hole he fell into, and makes his decision.

He leans over the edge, and falls down.  
His head cracks nastily against the floor after the drop, missing the golden patch by a few inches. His feet lay across the flowers, cushioned nicely, while the important part, his head, lolls on the ground and begins to slowly bleed out, spreading through the water on the floor.

He struggles to lift his head up, crying out when it stands a stab across his forehead, vision violently spinning and his stomach beginning to heave. Ignoring the pain, he crawls across the floor slowly, trying to ignore the way his head wound continued to bleed, to actually _increase_ in speed.

He makes it to the end of the room before he collapses. He is not aware enough to realize this. He is not aware enough to feel the rough hands hooking around his chest and yanking him up, carrying him onward.

He is not aware enough to notice when he is brought to the King. He is not aware enough to face his death.

 

**4th SOUL Acquired: Perseverance**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That moment when you slip in a reference to Sweater Siblings and no one will notice... (there’s also a super small one in Ch. 3...)
> 
> My Tumblr


	6. Best Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two SOULs fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment if you like.
> 
>  
> 
> My Tumblr

“I’m sorry miss lady, but we really need to go!” A small child with olive skin and green eyes stands before Toriel, hand in hand with their best friend, a girl with two blonde braids and a fierce scowl.

“You cannot leave, my children! You will be killed by King Asgore, and I can no longer sit back and allow that to happen!” Toriel stands in front of two large doors, arms outstretched.

“Then why don’t you just come with us?” The green-eyed child asks. “You could keep us plenty safe then.”

Toriel turns to face the smaller child directly. “I am afraid that will not be possible, my child.”

“And why not?!” The taller girl speaks up, stepping in front of the smaller kid, who is clutching a frying pan to their chest. “If you aren’t going to go out to protect us, you can’t just make us stay here forever! We’re people, you can’t keep us prisoner!”

Toriel sends a fireball towards the two half-heartedly. “Fight me or go upstairs!”

The smaller child deflects the fire with her frying pan, and it spins into the nearby cavern wall.

“We can’t do that! We need to go home, or at least help you all escape!” The small child fixes Toriel with a steely gaze. 

“Haven,” Toriel addresses the small child, “you have no idea what is out there! You will be killed, just as easily as all the others!”

“Not on _my_ watch,” the taller child states, and Haven has to suppress a snort. As they dodge another fireball, this one spiraling towards the Haven’s emerald green SOUL, they playfully rib the blonde girl.

“Juno, you’re about as scary as a panda bear,” Haven smirks, once again holding their frying pan out to block another barrage of flames. They didn’t know how their frying pan was able to do that. Magic, they supposed.

“I can be scary! I can totally be scary!” Juno barks out, grabbing the back of Haven’s sweater to pull them lower and away from another ball of flame. The ball whizzes past Juno’s yellow SOUL, barely scraping along the edges. Juno hisses in pain and lurches back even further, prompting a worried look from Haven that quickly dissolved into something that they know Juno will accept better— teasing.

“With what, that BB gun pistol of yours? Good luck,” Haven chuckles good-naturedly. Juno sighs and aims the pistol at Toriel, getting at least two shots in. It doesn’t appear to inflict more damage in the broad area she aims. Perhaps a more precise strike would do damage? Juno moves the pistol up towards the lady’s face.

“Juno, no!” Haven shouts, swiping at the toy gun and knocking it to the floor. “We do not _blind_ people Juno!”

“Well excuuuse me!” She drawls, once again yanking Haven backwards, just barely in time. Haven scowls. Now their apron was burned. “I’m just trying to get us out of here!”

Haven scowls, but turns towards Toriel. “Can you please let us go? We’re not going to fight you.”

“N-no! I cannot... I cannot let more children out of here! I let all the others out, and now they are dead!” Toriel exclaims, and Haven can see the beginnings of tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. As much as Haven hated seeing her like this, she knew the only way to get out was to continue her current actions, emotionally painful as they may be.

“Please, _Mom_ ,” they stress, “please let us go… I promise we’ll come back! And we’ll tell you stories about all the nice friends we make!”

Toriel smiles sadly. “Do not make promises that you cannot keep, my child.” She sends a couple more half-hearted attacks towards the two children, but the passion is no longer in them, and they fizzle out quickly.

Haven and rushes up to Toriel and gives her a hug, Juno following reluctantly behind. They wrap their arms around her as far as they can manage, and something in Toriel breaks.

“I- I!” A sob breaks out through her chest, doubling her over, and she holds the two children. “I just do not wish for either of you to be hurt but-” she sniffles, bringing up a paw to wipe her tears. She turns another sad smile to the children and continues. “I suppose it is not my choice to make. Just-... be good, will you not?” Haven and Juno nod, smiling up at her. Toriel gives them one last, comforting hug, then sets them on their feet. “Goodbye, my children,” she says, turning away. “And… stay _safe_.” She says the last word so hesitantly, as if it will jump up and bite her if she lets it escape her lips.

“I will, Mom!” Haven says, elbowing Juno, who looks back up from her feet.

“I- uh, yeah! We will, lady!” Juno grins nervously at Toriel, adjusting her cowboy hat. 

The two turn around, and leave the Ruins.

———

“What the _hell_ , why is it so damn _cold_?!” Juno exclaims around five minutes into the next area. Haven shrugs their shoulders, continuing to plod along a seemingly endless snowy path.

“I dunno, but we should probably be quiet,” they whisper. “Don’t know what’s out here. You heard what Toriel taught us…”

“I know, I know,” she says, switching to a whisper. “But it’s so quiet. I don’t know if anything is out here.”

“heh. think again,” says a voice from behind them, and they both jump, screeching, but held by some invisible force. “h u m a n s .” Man, why switch to the scary voice now? It still has Haven trembling in their ankle-length boots.

“H-hi? Can we turn around?” Haven mumbles. Juno nods frantically next to them. The invisible grip on them loosens for a moment, just enough for them to flip around.

“A skeleton?!” Juno shouts, and Haven quickly shoots a hand up to muffle their friend’s voice.

“And just why would that be surprising, Juno,” Haven asks. They all were in a realm of monsters, after all.

“hehe. yeah, i’m a skele _ton_ of fun. say, did you come out of those doors, by any chance?” Haven and Juno have to hold back a snicker at the pun, but Juno bobs her head up and down at the question. The skeleton visibly relaxes. He stretches out a hand.

“i’m sans. sans the skeleton. i made a promise to a certain lady behind that door recently, do you know her?” 

Haven nods. They even thought they might know when that promise might have taken place. They had asked to leave the Ruins for probably the thousandth time, and Toriel had just snapped, and sent them to their room. They snuck out, and heard muffled voices coming from the basement, and the sound of crying. Maybe that was when she had spoken to Sans?

Juno looks at the outstretched hand, clearly not wanting to take it. At Juno’s hesitance, Haven reaches out with a shaking hand and grabs.

PBPBPTHTHHHHHHHHHHH…

“Pfft,” A shallow burst of air escapes Haven’s mouth, quickly giving way to full-on laughter. Juno joins in, too struck by the hilarity of the situation to abstain, and Sans is laughing too by the end of it.

“the old- the old whoopie cushion in t-the hand trick,” he says, still shaking with laughter. “it’s _always_ funny,” He grins, winking at the pair.

The trio laugh again, and Sans stands up a little straighter.

“so, i’m gonna leave you two be, but i’ll be watching.” That statement carries an undertone of both comfort, and a threatening disposition. 

“Alright!” Juno exclaims, already turning away, grasping Haven’s sleeve in her hand. “Nice to meet you mister skeletoooooon!”

“it’s sans,” they can barely make out as they leave the area, and that alone is enough to make them break out into giggles.

“Well _that_ was a riot,” Juno snickers. Haven smiles, looping their arm around their friend’s.

“Sure was,” they grin.

———

After navigating a series of what appeared to be completely unnecessary puzzles, they reach a nice wintery town.

“Snowdin?” Juno muses, looking at a sign at the front of town. Haven giggles, pointing to a hotel.

“It’s a pun!” She whisper-giggles, and Juno snorts in laughter. _Snowed Inn_.

The two walk throughout the town, taking in the novelty of a monster-filled village. Surprisingly, no one besides Toriel and Sans seem to notice their human-ness. Interesting. You’d almost think that the majority of them had never seen a human before…

With a guilty swallow, Haven realizes that most of them probably haven’t.

They reach the edge of town without complaint, barely avoiding the sound of another voice, this one very loud and excitable. It kept going on about puzzles, spaghetti, and wanting to join the ‘Royal Guard’. Might want to watch out for them, then? If they were connected to the Royal Guard, then they would probably be dangerous to be around, wouldn’t they?

Juno gives a hum of contentment next to Haven, breaking them out of their train of thought. She is bending over what appears to be a glowing blue flower.

“ _I CAN’T BELIEVE GRILLBY’S IS SERVING MILKSHAKES NOW,_ ” The voice says. It kind of sounds like the voice from earlier. “ _THAT’LL BE THE ONE GOOD THING TO COME OUT OF THAT GREASE TRAP_!”

The next flower continues the conversation.

“ _oh, come on, bro_.” Haven and Juno freeze. Sans? “ _you don’t want to_ shake _it up a little bit?_ ”

They can’t understand the next flower, it simply unleashes a high pitched screeching noise that seems to nearly overload whatever magic the flowers are built around. The sheer volume of the noise echoing around the small cavern makes steam rise from the flower. Jeez. Someone doesn’t like puns…

Haven and Juno giggle at the shenanigans, leaving the flowers be. Haven wondered where Sans was now. They didn’t seem him anywhere, but maybe he was good at hiding? It was no matter, really.

They continue through the dark, damp caverns, waiting for whatever would come next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr


	7. Hello Darkness My Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last two SOULs are taken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment if you like.
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> My Tumblr

“That was a close one!” Juno exclaims, yanking Haven around a corner and into another room. “That last spear almost got me!” Haven rests their hands on their knees, bent over and trying not to wheeze. Juno nods in understanding. That was a _lot_ of running.

“That’s not the last we’ll see of _her_ ,” Haven responds after they regain their breath. 

“D’you think?”

“Yeah,” Haven responds with a defeated tone.

Despite Sans’ claim that he’d help them, Juno hadn’t seen the skeleton anywhere. Maybe he was the ‘watching from the shadows’ type, but they’d easily be killed if they didn’t have any help in fights. 

Juno starts to walk out of the room, stopping short when she sees Haven held up by something. What were they looking at?

“What’re these houses?” They muse, tapping their foot. Juno walks up behind them to see what they’re talking about.

“Oh! Huh, I dunno. Guess monsters have to live _somewhere_ , right?”

“They’re kinda weird shaped.”

“Yeah!” Juno moves over to a room on the right, peering in. “There’s another one here! This one looks like… a fish? Who builds a fish-house?” Haven jogs over to see it, chortling good-naturedly at the sight.

“seems _fishy_ to me.”

Juno and Haven jump two feet, screaming, before flipping around. Juno blindly swings her gun out, ready to aim, before stopping when she sees who scared them.

“Sans?! What the heckle freckle?!” Haven shouts. Despite having been just scared, Juno suppresses a snort of laughter at the choice of exclamation.

“hehe. sorry, kids,” he winks. “guess i scared you _out of your skin_???” He holds the wink, seemingly waiting for response.

“Weaaaak.” Juno drawls, sticking out her tongue.

“We aren’t even skeletons, that’s _you_ ,” Haven adds.

Sans shrugs. “Can’t all be winners.” He pauses, before grinning. “They _can_ , however, all be…” he pulls a hand out of his pocket, holding two… hotdogs?! “ _weiners_.”

This joke manages to get a genuine laugh out of the three of them. 

“Where- where did th-those even _come_ from?” Haven giggles out, hands around their stomach.

Sans gives Haven a deadpan look. “i honestly have no idea.” He breaks out into a goofy grin. “want one?”

“Yeah!” Haven shouts in excitement.

“No,” Juno follows, checking out her nails. “No, I most certainly do not.” If even Sans had no idea where those had been, there was _no_ way Juno would eat one.

Sans shrugs. “suit yourself,” he says as he hands Haven a ‘dog. He takes a bite of his own hot dog, prompting Juno to gag in disgust. Haven brings the hot dog up to their mouth. 

“You’re not really gonna-” Juno starts, but is cut off when Haven takes a big bite. Juno makes an exaggerated gagging sound as Haven chews the bite, then swallows.

“welp,” Sans says as he finishes his hot dog, “i’ve gotta be off. stay safe kids!” He says, then leaves the room, walking in the opposite direction from his home. Where was he going? 

“Well _that_ was a waste of time,” Juno remarks.

———

“HOLYJESUSUNDYNELEAVEUSALONE!!!” Haven screams as they and Juno sprint away from Undyne’s spears. Apparently trying to sneak away while Undyne monologues on a crag was not a good idea. Who knew.

“NGAAAAAAH!!!!!” Is the only thing Undyne ~~says~~ _screams_.

“WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!” Juno shouts, but she _knows_ what her problem is.

“DIE HUMAN SCUM!! NGAAAH!!” Undyne sends a spear hurtling towards Juno and Haven, which they both duck, grabbing each other to help themselves dodge.

“Okay, I didn’t want to say this,” Juno starts, “but FUCK OFF UNDYNE!” Undyne, of course, ignores this, but it draws an exaggerated gasp from Haven.

“Juno!!” Haven shouts, scandalized. Juno shrugs it off, still running. It’s starting to get hotter, and there’s a long neon sign next to them saying “Welcome to Hotland”. Man, these town names were _really_ on-the-nose.

Juno notices Haven look back at Undyne, worried look on their face. Were they worried about Undyne? But why?

“What’s wrong?” Juno asks with a quick breath, still sprinting at full speed.

“It’s too hot, she’s gonna get hurt!”

“Wha-?” Juno looks back at Undyne, this time noticing how heavy and hot that armor looked. The fact that she was a fish didn’t help either… “Who cares?! Let’s go!” Juno looks at Haven, who has a conflicted look on their face. “Ugh, fine!” 

They both run ahead to where they can see a water cooler, hurriedly filling a cup to leave behind for Undyne. They turned to leave the area, to keep running in this dreadful heat, when Undyne catches up, and slings a clawed hand out lightning-fast to snatch Haven’s wrist.

Haven’s eyes widen, face paling, but there is only one thing on their mind.

“Juno, _run_!” They shout, before Undyne hits them over the head with an energy spear, and they crumple into unconsciousness.

Juno hesitates for a split second before sprinting away. She comes upon a crossroads. There’s a large white building up ahead that says “LAB” in large letters, but Juno probably shouldn’t go there, there’d just be more people to chase her. She knows she probably doesn’t have much time until Undyne catches her, and so, though it pains her to leave Haven, she sprints to the left.

An elevator! Hallelujah. As she hops inside, and the doors close, Juno catches a glimpse of Undyne barreling towards her, Haven slung over her shoulder. A pain shoots it’s way through what Juno thinks is her yellow SOUL, but she can’t do anything.

The doors close.

——

“One night, please,” Juno sighs, utterly defeated. She had to save Haven! She just had to! She didn’t know how she’d do it, but still… 

At least she had a place to sleep tonight? The Mettaton hotel was very expensive, but it was worth it to get some sleep. Then she could look for Haven in the morning.

Juno looks around the hotel. Man, this Mettaton guy was really obsessed with themself. She accepts the room key that is passed over the counter and trudges to the room number listed on the label.

Time to get some rest.

——

“Did you hear?” A monster says in front of Juno. She was waiting for a ‘glamburger’ from a restaurant inside the hotel, though she was 99% sure it contained actual sequins and glitter. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to eat that, but she supposed that she could eat _anything_ right now.

“Hear what?” The second monster asks.

“King Asgore got another human SOUL! The Surface is so close I can _taste_ it!” The monster frowns at the ground. “I just wish I knew what a human _looked_ like…”

The second monster responds, but Juno can’t understand them. She stares at the floor, mouth suddenly dry and heart beating fast. There’s a strange ringing in her ears that she can’t ignore, and her hands are shaking.

Haven is… dead? But- but Juno was going to _save_ them!

At the outbreak of this news, Juno looks sharply up at the restaurant counter, then sprints out of the fast food joint, heading straight back to her room.

As she paces the floor, she thinks about what she can do. If this was true… if Haven was _dead_ , then…

Oh God, she had no idea what to do! She curls up on the ground in a little ball, tears spilling over the corners of her eyes. 

“You know…” A voice rings out. Juno sharply jumps. “There is a way for you to avenge your friend~” Juno frowns. She couldn’t see anyone, but the voice sounded as if it was talking to _her_. 

The voice is high pitched, and incredibly sickly sweet, like it’s crooning at her. Juno couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu, as if she’d heard that voice before, but she knows she hasn’t.

“W-what?” Juno responds, wiping away tears and holding her nearly empty BB gun defensively. Something about the voice put her on guard.

“You know who killed them?” The voice muses, and Juno tries to locate the origin of the sound. It sounded close to the ground, somewhere around her. “It was the _King_! Would be a shame if something _happened_ to him…”

Was the voice trying to tell her to kill the King? Juno hadn’t killed _anyone_ so far, but maybe… he deserved it?

“Who are you?” Juno asks nervously.

“No one special… just a _friendly_ pal trying to lend a hand,” the voices giggles as if something about that statement was funny. She thinks she knows where the voice is coming from, she can hear it from behind the hotel room door.

She creeps over to the door quietly, quickly throwing it open and brandishing her gun. There’s nothing there.

Strange, she could have sworn that just for a split second, she had seen something dart into the ground, a flash of yellow. It was odd.

 

It had almost looked like a _flower_.

——

It took her nearly and hour to decide, but now it was official.

Juno was going to assassinate King Asgore.

She knew it was probably a long shot, but she _had_ to give it a try, she just _had to_.

So here she was, walking down a long, golden hall, head pointed towards the ground as she marched forward, gun at the ready.

“so. here you are.” At this point, Juno isn’t even frightened at strange voices popping up. She simply looks up from the ground at the grinning face of Sans the Skeleton.

“Don’t try to stop me,” Juno warns, voice cold. She was done _fucking around_. Cool determination flowed through her. She knew she probably wouldn’t survive this, but there was no point anyway. She would never escape if she couldn’t kill him, anyway.

“wasn’t plannin’ on it,” Sans responds. He takes a deep breath. How, Juno doesn’t know. “i saw what happened to your friend. i’m sorry.” He exhales, deep and long. A pent up ball of fury in Juno explodes.

“Their name was Haven! And you didn’t do anything! I thought you were supposed to protect us, you promised Ms. Toriel! WHERE WERE YOU?!”

Sans looks taken aback. “look, i’m sorry about what happened to haven, but there wasn’t anything i could do. i couldn’t have saved them without undyne seeing me, and if she did, i’d be put in jail.”

“You could have tried.”

Sans exhales again.

“and now you’re going to kill the king?” Sans laughs, a short ‘heh’ that gives away his dislike of the idea. “look. i know that you think this is the right thing to do. i know that you have yourself convinced. when you decide that your course of action has the appropriate amount of _justice_ in it, there’s nothing that can make you back down.” Sans pauses. “just… keep in mind what exactly you’d be doing. think about the people that will be affected by this.” Sans looks at Juno one last time, gaze steely. “make the right decision.” This last command is stone cold, almost a threat. Then Juno blinks, and he’s gone.

Time to get down to business.

When Juno reaches the end of the hallway, she can see a grand doorway, most likely leading to the throne room. And in front of it…

“Human!” Undyne exclaims in surprise, reaching backwards to charge an energy spear, but Juno is quicker than her. Juno can almost hear Haven’s voice in her ear, calling back to their fight with Toriel.

‘ _We do not_ blind _people Juno_!”

_Crack!_

Undyne screams as a BB buries itself in her eye, doubling over in intense pain. Juno takes the momentary distraction to run forward, entering the throne room.

Time to kill the King.

 

Too bad her gun was out of bullets.

**5th SOUL Acquired: Kindness**  
**6th SOUL Acquired: Justice**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr
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> ( ~~btw if you guys ever wanted to make fanart for me I would love you forever you would just tag it ‘galaxybrowniesfanart’ on tumblr. If you didn’t have a tumblr just posting in the comments would work... I would totally shout you out on my next book in the series~~ )


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